1st mantis. Didn't go so well.

[Jlentz]

So, I finally got my first mantis last week (Smithii I think). It was a special request when my LFS owner went on his quarterly trek out to SDC and whatnot in LA.

Got him on Thursday. Took him out of the tank in Sunday. I think he died on sat while I was at work.

Is like to get thoughts as to if it may have been something I screwed up and also try for a solid ID on the body.

He was picked up Wednesday afternoon and brought back to LFS wed evening. I picked him up Thursday am, still in the bag (4 bags actually). When I got home I floated the bag for 30 min, fast drip (more like a slow siphon on airline) acclimation for ~30 min ~2 water changes worth in acclimation box.

He wasn't ever very active. Mostly hiding in the rubble rocks and I assumed just checking out his, new to him, 10 gal. I never Heard him hit anything. (Maybe once) I did see him grab a nassarious snail once when I put some Neptune pellets in the tank but he immediately dropped him and his back in his little cave. I was able to get very few pictures but he seemed aware until at least Friday night.

The tank has a fairly large, healthy, cuc. A few each of Red and blue hermits, nassarious, trochus. And 1 small yellow tail damsel. I've also got done Xenia, gsp, and some Zias in there. All were and are still doing well.

When I pulled him out I tested water and is was a touch over 0 ammonia, no nitrite, and between 5-10ppm nitrate. Temp was a little high, I saw it max out at 82f, but from what I understand that's the safe upper limit. Salinity is 35ppm.

Now on to id.

He's about 3" long. (Isn't that as big or bigger than Smithii is supposed to get?)

When alive there were very vivid red inter segmental bands.
It looks like there is a purple spot but I never was able to see it when he was alive.

 

[Calappidae]

It's a G. smithii

It's also possible the acclimation killed him. The longer you leave them in the ammonia the worse.. it's safer to just float him for a temp acclimation, and then straight in the tank.

As soon as the bag opens, ammonia changes chemistry after a dangerous PH swing.

 

[Jlentz]

I was trying to keep it quick. If the LFS doesn't know the salinity how do you make sure it's matched? Or, is it safe to assume that importers always keep their inverts at 35ppm?

I'm pretty sure it was in the bag for about 22 hours. About a 2/3 of a gallon of water + O2.

 

[jccaclimber]

Unfortunately I can't help you with the mantis, but I do have an acclimation note. Whenever I suspect ammonia in the water (ie the creature has been bagged more than a short drive home from the LFS) I shoot in some Prime or other ammonia binding agent as soon as I open the bag, then proceed with my usual acclimation.

 

[Gonodactylus]

You absolutely cannot assume that the water that a stomatopod arrives in is at 35ppt. I've received shipments as low as 28 and as high as 38. If there is more than a one or two part difference in salinity I use a slow drip acclimation.

Roy

 

[Kharn]

I have always operated under the slower the better for acclimation, after like 30-45mins I usually need to remove a cup of water because of what has been added to the bag.

For larger individuals I have often taken a good 2-3hrs for acclimation, nice and slow, 1 drip per 1-2secs.

It's my belief that a faster acclimation can cause shock and kill the animals, it really is my point of view that there is NO harm in the slowest acclimation possible, like you can't go to slow when it comes to acclimation cause IMO the slower the better.

There shouldn't be any rush in getting the animal out of the bag and into its new home, even IF the parameters in the bag aren't that good, the slow acclimation WILL sort it out nice and passively rather then a big 'bull rush' of chemical changes.

It's like us humans, what happens when we go from say....a freezing cold environment straight into a very hot environment (or vice versa)...we get sick cause our bodies didn't adjust to that sudden environmental parameter change.

 

[jccaclimber]

There are some potential problems with slow acclimation, although all of them can be overcome. The two common ones are:

Ammonia/ammonium becomes much more toxic after the bag is opened due to CO2 release and the resulting pH change. This is valid for freshwater, and I have *assumed* but not researched much with salt water. You can cover this by throwing in something to bind the ammonia.

Temperature. More an issue in warm water tanks during the winter, particularly if the acclimation container is on the floor to facilitate a drip rather than in the tank which risks cross-contamination. If your house temperature is 65 (not uncommon when I lived in the Midwest) and your tank is 82 (example tropical freshwater tank). A fast acclimation will leave the acclimation container about the same temperature. A very slow drip will leave the acclimation temperature close to room temperature and a shock when the specimen is moved to the tank.

 

[kegogut]

You absolutely cannot assume that the water that a stomatopod arrives in is at 35ppt. I've received shipments as low as 28 and as high as 38. If there is more than a one or two part difference in salinity I use a slow drip acclimation.

Roy

If Roy says it,I take it as well informed advice and would do it the way he does. :thumbsup:

 

[Jlentz]

You absolutely cannot assume that the water that a stomatopod arrives in is at 35ppt. I've received shipments as low as 28 and as high as 38. If there is more than a one or two part difference in salinity I use a slow drip acclimation.

Roy

Thanks Roy!

What do you do regarding the ammonia?

 

[EI Gringo]

I straight up never mail order stomatopods, done it 3 times, all of them died because of shipping, its cold in the uk and they seem to all just chuck them in the back of some dirty van, not good.

 

[Martini5788]

The only stomatopod I have ever had was mail ordered. Got her from ibluewater. I didn't have any issues.

 

[Calappidae]

I've only had two issues with a stomatopod purchased off Liveaquaria.

1. Identifaction was wrong, after clearly stating I wanted an O. scyllarus.. and not to send me anything but an O. scyllarus, I got the very species I never wanted to see collected, G. ternatensis. I definitely made the phone call and they willingly gave me a full refund without even having to ask for it, but they need to prioritize their research on these animals more before selling them. This is a big company educating thousands of people.. not a small LFS, and people are being misinformed.

2. The same G. ternatensis starved, I can't blame LA for this one, as even my L. macs have refused food, however unlike both my L. macs, this G. ternatensis refused to accept food leading to eventual starvation. Personally, I almost want to blame myself here as my procedures to try and entice him were.. very stressful and pushy to say the least. He only switched about 3 different tanks during the first week I had him, and I tossed snails, fish, ghost shrimp (which jumped out of their temperary bowl..), etc etc.. every hour hoping he'd eat. Shame.

Otherwise all my other stomatopod suppliers sent perfectly healthy specimens, and I'll even say ones I picked up at the LFS arrived safely since I picked them up before the LFS even acclimated them to their systems.